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Mind the Gap: Language Data, Their Producers, and the Scientific Process (Crazy New Idea)

Author Tobias Weber

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Tobias Weber
  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

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Tobias Weber. Mind the Gap: Language Data, Their Producers, and the Scientific Process (Crazy New Idea). In 3rd Conference on Language, Data and Knowledge (LDK 2021). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 93, pp. 6:1-6:9, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021) https://doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.LDK.2021.6

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of low-resource languages in NLP through the lens of different stakeholders. It argues that the current "consumerist approach" to language data reinforces a vicious circle which increases the technological exclusion of minority communities. Researchers' decisions directly affect these processes to the detriment of minorities and practitioners engaging in language work in these communities. In line with the conference topic, the paper concludes with strategies and prerequisites for creating a positive feedback loop in our research benefiting language work within the next decade.

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Computing methodologies → Language resources
  • Computing methodologies → Natural language processing
  • Social and professional topics → Cultural characteristics
  • Software and its engineering → Software creation and management
  • Applied computing → Language translation
Keywords
  • minority languages
  • data integration
  • sociology of technology
  • documentary linguistics
  • exclusion

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